Aeroplane



C. GRAY.'

AEROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 2l. l9l8.

3 sums snsn 1.

' 9 awmzwtoz 4 g'zzfaiz fry I Gummy! Patented Dec. 9,1919.

C. GRAY.

AEROPLANE- APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21. IQIB.

1,324,393, v Patented Dec. 9,1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. GRAY.

AEROPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21. 1918.

Patented Dec..9, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3 UNITED STATES PATENT Curios.

CLINToN GRAY, or ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY, AssIeNoR-or oNE-rouaTH o MUNJEG K. BOYAJIAN, ONE-FOURTH To ELEANOR BOYAJIAN, N O E- rouarn To ELIZABETH GRAY, ALL or ATLANTIC CITY, NEw'J'EasE AEROIELANE.

" Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Dec. 9, 1919.

Application filed .September'21, 1918. Serial No. 255,144. i

To all whom it may concern: 5 Be it known that I, CLINTON GRAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlantic City, in the county of Atlantic and State of 7 construction and arrangement of propellers.

Another object of-the'invention is to r0- vide propeller mechanism which will adapt the aeroplane to be driven substantially directly upwardly atthe beginning. of a flight, thus avoiding necessity of the usual running start and permitting an aeroplane equipped with the propeller mechanism to be employed upon battle-ships and under other com ditions where economy in landing and starting space is necessary.

Another object of the invention is to so arrange the propellers that the aeroplane will be sustained thereby and by the sustaining planes of the aeroplane inapendulum:

like manner, thus obviating accidental tip-*1. I

\plane; and n the structure embodying the ping. of the plane in fii ht.

In the accompanying rawings:

Figure l is a side elevation of the aeroplane embodying the improvements of the present invention; f

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the aeroplane; Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view through the fforward portion of the aeroplane;

Fig. 4 is a perspective .view propeller blades;

of one of the propeller hoo s;

Fig. 6 is a view in elevation of the means provided for adjusting the propeller hood. As the present invention may be employed upon aeroplanes of various types without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, 7

the aeroplane isillustrated in. a conventional manner as having a frame indicated in gen eral by the numeral 1 and of any desired construction although it preferably includes landing runners 2, parallel upper fore and aft bars 3, and side uprights or vertical bars Fig. 5 is a erspective view of one of the; I

i ends the s de members 14 are connected by a 4: The usual sustaining planes are also employed and are of suitable construction and dispositionand mounted in the frame in any appropriate manner, but the. plane 5 is shown herein as secured to the vertical bars 4 just below and spaced slightly from the fore and aft bars 3.

The propeller shaft is indicated in the drawingsby the numeral 6 and this shaft is mounted rotatably in suitable bearings 7 upon the frame members 3 and has fixed to' its intermediate portion a sprocket gear 8 over which is passed a sprocket chain 9 passing also over a sprocket gear 10 upon the shaft 11 ofan engine indicated in general by the numeral 12 and of any suitable type, the shaft 6 being preferably located just above the planes 5 and between the front and rear ends of the of the frame of the aeroplane, and the engine being located at the bottom of the frame and in advance of the said shaft. In the illustrated arrangement,

there are two of the propellers mounted within an opening or recess 5 in the front edge of the uppermost plane, the major portion of their bodies standing Well above such in F ig; 4 is indicated in general by the numeral 13 and. includes side members 14 which. extend parallel. to each other andat their inner ends areprovided with collars- 15 which are secured in any suitable manner .to the shaft 6 or to a hub common to all of the blades of each propeller. At their outer cross member 16, and intermediate their ends by a cross member 17 extending parallel to the member 16. Near their inner ends the side members are further connected by a cross member 18. A' plane surface 19 is stretched betweennthe side members 14 and the cross members 17 and 18, as shown in Fig. 5. A- cupped surface indicated by the numeral 20 havin the-general form of a sectionjof a cylin er occupies the space de- 1 fined by the frame members 14, '16 and 17 form. (3f coui'sathe concave sides of the I t smachine as a whole.

outer ends of the propeller blades are all presented in the same direction and in the direction of rotation of the shaft 6 and the blades comprising each propeller set are equidistantly spaced about the said shaft and are radial thereto, Due to the peculiar cupped formation given the outer ends of the propeller blades,.thesc blades will possess n'iaxium lifting and propellingpower as, in their rotation, air will be trapped in their cupped outer portions} Gf course, in the absence of any means to prevent, the propellers would act equally in all directions against the air, but the present invention contemplates the provisiom'in connection with each propeller, of a hood and means r'br adjustin the hood so that substantially only one all of each propeller is at any time effective.

One of the 2 oods is shown in Fig. 5 and is indicated in general by the numeral '21 "and comprises side walls 22 an open front i 9 i 23, and an arcuate substantially semi-cylindrical wall 241: which extends. betweenthe arcuate outer edges of the side walls 22. The side walls 22' at their chordal edges or sides are proyided with suitable hearing collars 25, which are loosely fitted to the I shaft '6 thus adapting the respective hood to be swung about the shaft as an axis. a By reference to l of the drawings it will he observed that the hoods, being substantially semncylindrical inclose substantially. one-half of the respective propeller, the propeller rotatingwithin the hood and the hood being adjustable within the opening or recess 5", v

in order that the hoods 21 may he adjusted as heretofore stated, ashaft 26 is mounted in suitahle hearin s 27 u on the runners 2 of the frame of the machine and thisshaift has fixed to it rearwardly' extending crank arms 28- to which are connected the lower ends ofrods 29, which rods at their upper ends are pivotally connected tothe adgaoent sides 22 of the hoods 21. Of course, when the shaft 26 is oscillated, the hoods will beswunabout the shaft 6 as a cordon-and in or or that the shaft ma be so oscillated, means is provided wljiicli will now be described. Within the frame or the machine there are mounted two operator seats 30 each respectively located beneath one oi the said hoods 21 and conse-' uently at opposite sides of the middle or @perating levers 3ft are fired to the shaft 2% near theends thereof and each located adjacent the-respective seat to and at one side all the said I vice is provided which includes rock arms 32 each having at its inner end a fiat tooth 33, the lower edge of which is designed to I engage in the teeth of a segmental rack 34;,

the rock arms 32 bein pivotally mounted. near their tooth carrying ends upon suitable brackets 35 fixed upon the shaft 26.. Springs 36 bear between the shaft 25 and the arms 32 at that sideof vthe pivots for the arms opposite the sides "at which the tooth carrying ends of the arms are located, and these springs normally hold the teeth 33 of the two arms in engagement with the segmental rack. A pin and slot connection 37, between the teeth 33'of the two arms serves to prevent relative separation of the teeth and yet permits oi movement oil the I teeth into and out of engagement with the segmental rack when the arms 32 are rocked upon their pivots 35. The outer end. of each arm 32'extends beside the respective hand operating lever Si and a rod 38 is pivotally connected at its lower end as at 39' to the outer end of the respective arm 32 and at its upper end to one end of an angular pawl lever 40 pivotally mounted upon the respective operating lever 31 as at n and having a hand grip as is usual, indicated by the numeral 42, extending beside the handle of the said lever 31., It will now be understood that when the occupant of either seat 30 sees the necessity for adjusting the hood 2]., he may do so without the cooperation of the occupant of the other-seat 30 by grasping the handle ofhis operating lever 31 and the hand orip 42 associated with the same and so inching the pawl lever l0 upon its pivot as to depress the outer end of the respective i arm 32 against the tension of the spring 36.

Thus the tooth carrying end 33 of this rod will be swung upwardly, and through the pin and slot connection 37' between the two teeth 33, the other arm 32 will be correspondingly rocked and both teeth will be "disengaged from the segmental rachS, thus permitting the shaft 26 to be rocked through the medium of the selected lever 31, When the hoods are ositioned with their ohordal edges substantially vertically and the propellers are in motion, the propellers will exert a direct upward'liftin force and the 3 machine may be driven su stantially directly vertically into the air from a standing position. After the machine has reached the desired elevation, the hoods may be adjusted so as to position their said edges in a more or less horizontalplane and downwardly I presented so that then the lower sides of the propeller will be the efiective sides and the machine will bedriven in a forward directron, the sustaining planes'at such time act- .tion of the propeller which moves within the hood finds little resistancebecause -of the peculiar shape of the blade. The cupped outer portion 20 of the blade which trapped air on the working side of the propeller, carries it around into and through the hood practically without loss, whereas the plane surface 19 when it moves into the hood coaets with the curved wall and the'ends thereof so that allthe air on this side of the propeller is caused to pass through the hood,

Also, air drawn into the lower side of the hood by the surfaces 19 and 20 of each blade will be carried around'by such blade, mov-..

ing outward meanwhile under centrifugal force, and finally driven upward against the upper'part of the hood just before the blade comes out at the to and to a certain extent this air will assist in raising the aeroplane.

The rudder mechanism includes front and rear rudders indicated in general by the numeral 43 and each comprising canvas or sheet metal 44 stretched over spreader .frames 45, which frames are fixed to and carried by vertically mounted oscillatory uprights46 located one at the front and. the

other atthe rear of the machine. The uprights 46 are provided at their upper and lower'ends with cross arms 47 and connecting the ends of the respective cross arms of the uprights 46 at the front and rear of the. machine, are crossed cables '48 which provide for simultaneous oscillation of the uprights when either upright is turned toward the .right or toward the left. To provide forthis oscillation of the uprights to angularly adjust the propellers 43, steering shafts 49 are mounted within the frame vof'the machine one in front of each seat and carry at their upper ends steering wheels 50 by which they may be turned, the lower ends of the shafts carryin wh ich areconnected ca les 52 also connected 'Inaddition to the rudders 43,- the machine embodies a tail 'rudder'indicated in general .by the numeral 53 and preferably. trans-l verselyarched, the concave side of this rud- 'der presented downwardly and the rudder being pivotally'connected at its forward side as at 54 with the rear end ofth frame of the machine in a mannerto permit of its transverse swinging adjustment. In order to brace and guide the rudder in its swinging adjustment, a cable or other flexible connec -tion 55-is connected at its ends as at 56 with cross arms 51- to to ,the lower cross bar of the forward rud-v the'propellerandhood.

the forward corners of the rudder, and at its intermediate portion is passed about pulleys 57 mounted at suitable points at the rear end of the frame of the machine. For the purpose of swinging the rudder 53, cables 58 are connected at their rear ends to the rudder near the rear corners'thereof, as indicated by the numeral 59 and at their forward ends are connected to the .upper cross bar 47 for the .rear rudder 43.

Having thus described the invention, what is. claimed as new is:

1. In an air craft, a power driven shaft, a propeller thereon, a hood adjustable on the shaft and partly inclosing the propeller, a rock shaft havlng a crank arm connected with said hood, and spaced operating levers on said rock shaft; combined with a toothed rack adjacent the rock shaft, two rock arms pivoted to this shaft and having teeth at their inner ends lapping each other over said rack, pin-and-slot connections between. said teeth, and hand grip mechanism carried'by said operating levers and connected with the outer ends of said rock arms.

pellers carried by the shaft, means for rotating the shaft, hoods angularly adjustably mounted about the shaft and partly inclos- 'ing the respective propellers, a rock shaft, operative connection between the rock shaft and the hoods for rotatably adjusting the levers, connection between each pawl lever and the respective-arm, and teeth married by the adjacent. ends of the arms and pivotally; connected and simultaneously en- ,gageable with the segmental rack.

' 3. In anaeroplane, a supporting frame including upper and lower'spaced fore and aft bars connected b ,vertical bars, a. sue-h taining plane secure to the vertical bars 1n spaced relation to and below said upper bars," a propeller shaft extending'between said upper bars, a propeller hood journaled on the shaft between the upper -bar s,.and

-means' for adjusting the hood, the forward edge of the plane being cutaway-to receive 4. In n aeroplane: the

combination with f a-plane having a recess opening throu h. the

front edge thereof, a shaft crossing t e re-.

cess, and a propeller carriedby the shaft .and standing within said recess with its major portion above the plane, whereby the forward thrust of the workin pellerand also standing within said recess, landdmeans for adjusting the position of the Side of thepropeller is substantially in line with the plane;'of a hood partly inclosing the.pro-- 90 2. In an aeroplane, a rotary shaft, pro

1,'sae,eee

5. In an aeroplane, a shaft, means for cio'sing the propeller and mounte i fo addrivin it,a propeller fast on the shaft and justment on the shaft, and means for setting each h ade including radial members conthe hood to expose a selected portion of the 1o nected near the shaft by a plane surface and propeller remote therefrom by a surface of semi-cylim In testlmony whereof I aifix my signature.

drical cross section close& at its ends a suha stantially semi-cylindrical 1100i part-1y in- CLINTON GRAY: [Last] 

